The Opelousas courier., 1887-09-03
TURKISH SCHOOLS.
Educational Facilities in the
Ottoman Empire.
The Thres Kinds Of Public Schools, the
Instructors and the Manner Of Teaching.

The Three Kinds Of Public Schools, the
Instructors and the Manner Of Teaching.
Three kinds of public schools exist in
Turkey-the mahale meklebs 0he rri
mary schoois) the ruchdiyes (the upper
primary schools, and the medresses, {thc
schools of the mosques). Every Turk.
ish city is divided into mahales, each oil
which is provided with a primary school,
founded and supported by special be.
quests, and in which only the alphabet
and the reading Of the Koran are taught
but the rudiments of writing are ex-
eluded. Z
The instructors are almost always Sc
lccted from the imams of the districts.
They sit or squat for many hours upon q
small dlatform covered with a mai or q
carpet. Covered with a white or green
turban (f they are hadjis, that is, il
they have made a pilgrimage to Mecca,
they make a backward and forward
movement with their heads, SO prolonged
and SO regular that a European that
should look at them ten minutes would
be sea-sick. Accompanying this motion
Of the head, the teachers chant a mo-
notonous litany, the words of which are
the different letters of the Turkish al
phabet, or verses from the Koran; and it
is by repeating this chant and by imi-
tating these movements Of the head after
the manner of black bears, that the
pupils learn the elements of reading and
religion. Children enter these schools
at the age of five, and remain there five
or six years, paying a fee, which is not
required Of the poor.
When pupils leave the district schools,
they can enter the ruchdiyes, a more adj
vancea class of schools, and entirely
free. There they learn reading and get
their first knowledge of Turkish writing
-sults, the writing Of common books.
and ric1, commercial writing. They
are taught a little arithmetic, an abridg-
ment of Turkish geography. and. finally,
the history OF the Ottoman empire, writ
ten according to the custom Of the faith
full. The Mussu'manic amour propra is
touchy, and Turks do not admit within
the sanctuary of their historgg either their
political or military defeats, or the
%peccadillos of their sultans. The lessons
of the ruchdiyes are usually given in
Arabic, and include no knowledlfmes a.
science. The professors in these
arc highly esteemed by the Tur--1,
the superintendcnts receive the pompons
title of recteurs.
The schools of the mosques are superior
to the ruchdiyes. Pupils enter these
when they are ftom IS to 20 years old,
and remain their for Is and even 20
years. They are lodged, fed and
clothed graluitously, and live in COM
panics of from 30 to so and a hundred
in number, in special buildings called
medresses. There are more tban 500
medresses in S,amboul alone. During
Ralnaztn the pupils of the medresses
scatter themselves over the provinces,
which open their mosques, and here
these old students distribute among
their supplemented auditors the mama
of their religious and astrological
studies, which brings them some money.
On leaving the mcdresses at the re-
spectacle age of thirty five or forty
years, a certain number of students By
come cadis Gulges), muftis presidents
or tribunal !, recteurs councillors of
the divan), secretaries of state, and even
ministers. The most important person.
ages of the empire have lived in the
medrcsses. Many others, however, do
not obtain any dficc,~a deprivation that
does not trouble them much if they are
rich and INDECENT, or even if they are
poor, for thculthey draw their support
them to want for anything. When The
Ottoman empire was at the height of its
glory, the schools Of the mosques en-
loved a great reputation. To-day the
only important courses Of lectures de-
| Iiyered are the Arabic and religions lee
lures; and medresses may beaooked uT-
ON as veritab:c schools Of Mohanmedar
theology. Religious and civil law being,
however, mingled more Or less IN the
Koran, one can easily understand why
il IS that religious instruction holds the
first place in public cdncation.-lCos-
m~opolitan.
Accuracy In Tanned Cutting.
n-.l-.EIo acn,,raeu &c now ATTAINED